Monday, February 13, 2017
Aswali Dam is located near Bordi. It is around 151 KM away from Amboli in Andheri west.
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| Aswali Dam |
Hansel, who had accompanied me to Shiv Kalin Vihir in Badlapur, joined me on this trip.
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| Sunrise on the way to Aswali Dam |
We met at Amboli, near my house at 5:20 AM. We immediately headed to our destination, Aswali Dam.
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| Hansel and Me |
As it was early morning, the roads were empty, so Hansel managed to pickup speed. We crossed the Fountain junction without any traffic, which was good.
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| Can you spot the aeroplane in the sky |
We rode on the Mumbai Ahmedabad highway, as the bike gained momentum, it started growing colder. We were wearing warm clothes, but our hands were numb due to the cold. Hansel added that due to the near water bodies and trees, the temperature will always be lower than elsewhere. He was right.
Every time we braked to stretch, it grew cooler.
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| Tody trees on the way to Aswali Dam |
The directions to Aswali Dam are tagged on google maps, follow the map and you will not get lost. We did the same.
We exited the Mumbai Ahmedabad highway at Talasari, and traveled by a narrow village road to Aswali Dam The roads are in good condition. The journey was picturesque. We passed by Toddy trees, Banyan Trees and water bodies. Life here was so laid back. Everyone has relaxing. How I miss this kind of life in the city.
Toddy wine, created from the Sap of the toddy tree is a alcoholic beverage. We saw sap being collected from the Toddy trees while travelling to Aswali Dam. Some one is going to have a party tonight.
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| Sap from the Tody tree |
We travelled in and out of Maharashtra into Gujarat a couple of times to reach our destination. How we know, there were police check post.
Finally around 9 AM, we reached the school, located very close to the Aswali Dam. I quickly asked one of the school teacher for directions to the dam. He immediately showed me the rocky trail that leads to the dam. I inquired about the whereabouts of Bahrot Caves located nearby. He told me that those caves exist, though he has never been up them. He told me that it would take us around 2 to 3 hours to reach the caves from the dam. The dam, we would reach in 30 minutes. He also advised us to take a local with us , if we planned to visit it. As the trek is through a jungle and there is a possibility of us getting lost as the directions are not marked.
Hansel and I decided to skip the caves for the time being, visit the dam and do the caves later.
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| The school near Aswali Dam |
We walked on the rocky road that leads to the dam. As the road was not motor able, we parked the bike under the shade of a tree and walked it out.
En route, Hansel, heard a couple of ducks, we immediately located them, took a couple of photos and then headed back to the dam.
Finally we reached the dam premises. The view of the dam was just beautiful. The green waters was surrounded by hills covered with thick forests on three sides. It reminded me of my trip to Pelhar Dam near Vasai. Equally beautiful.
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| Ducks on the way to the Aswali Dam |
There is only one control mechanism for the entire dam. Access to it is denied. We walked on the small muddy path. There were school kids here, I guess they had bunked school to spend sometime at the dam.
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| View from Aswali Dam |
There was a tiny hole in the dam wall, from where the water was oozing out. like a mini waterfall post the rains.
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| Aswali Dam |
We parked ourselves in the shade of the trees and had some mouth watering sandwiches prepared by Hansel's wife.
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| That's me |
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| Miniature waterfall |
I noticed something very unusual here, I noticed a cow, swim or should I say walk in the water with its head held high so that it can breathe. It walked for around 20 minutes in the water to reach land.
Watching the calm waters, greenery around us, was so soothing to my eyes. I wouldn't mind suspending a hammock between two trees and sipping on some ice cold beer.
Watching the calm waters, greenery around us, was so soothing to my eyes. I wouldn't mind suspending a hammock between two trees and sipping on some ice cold beer.
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| Aswali Dam |
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| Aswali Dam |
Now that we have visited Aswali Dam, what do we do next, is the question I had in my mind. I started to research on google. But due to the poor internet connectivity we were not getting any signals. We decided to go back to the village located near the school to try our luck there.
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| Aswali Dam |
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| Aswali Dam |
Near the school we got better connectivity, as compared to the dam, we then decided to do the coastal road-trip starting at Bordi beach and terminating at Dahanu Beach.
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